limb stuck on powerline

[bcbull378]

Call the power company. They are not responsible for anything from their transformer to your property, however they will disconnect power at transformer and give you how ever much time to need to do your work.

The power company I worked for (37 years Lineman) took care of everything up to the connection at the meter. Most all power companies have there own tree division or they have trained tree trimming contractors. Be safe in all you do

 

[OldeEnglish]

I'm a strong believer that anything dealing with electricity should be left up to the professionals, too many accidents happen where people get killed. A guy I've known all my life got killed weed wacking around some high tension lines that run through property owned by a large limestone quarry in my town. They were using saw blades on weed wackers, he accidently hit a guide wire, cut through it, the wire snapped back and touched the power lines which energized the guide wire. The guide wire snapped back at him, hit him, and killed him. A few of my friends were working with him and couldn't revive him because the electricity literally cooked him internally. Not a pleasant way to go....

Now all of the guide wires are protected with schedule 80 pipe so it could never happen again. That still haunts my friends that were beside him and he left his child fatherless and his wife without a husband. Power lines are never something to fool around with or joke about, even 100 amps will kill you.

 

[Daren Todd]

I'm a strong believer that anything dealing with electricity should be left up to the professionals, too many accidents happen where people get killed. A guy I've known all my life got killed weed wacking around some high tension lines that run through property owned by a large limestone quarry in my town. They were using saw blades on weed wackers, he accidently hit a guide wire, cut through it, the wire snapped back and touched the power lines which energized the guide wire. The guide wire snapped back at him, hit him, and killed him. A few of my friends were working with him and couldn't revive him because the electricity literally cooked him internally. Not a pleasant way to go....

Now all of the guide wires are protected with schedule 80 pipe so it could never happen again. That still haunts my friends that were beside him and he left his child fatherless and his wife without a husband. Power lines are never something to fool around with or joke about, even 100 amps will kill you.

My grandfather got nailed with 40,000 volts when he worked for the local power company. He was hooking up a main line on one of the towers when they energized it on him. Burnt his hands really bad, blew out the bottom of his feet and knocked him off the tower. Doc figured it was the impact when he hit the ground that restarted his heart. Spent 3 months in the hospital, with multiple skin graphs before he was able to come home. 30yrs later, menthol unfiltered cigarettes finaly got him

 

[OldeEnglish]

My grandfather got nailed with 40,000 volts when he worked for the local power company. He was hooking up a main line on one of the towers when they energized it on him. Burnt his hands really bad, blew out the bottom of his feet and knocked him off the tower. Doc figured it was the impact when he hit the ground that restarted his heart. Spent 3 months in the hospital, with multiple skin graphs before he was able to come home. 30yrs later, menthol unfiltered cigarettes finaly got him

Ouch..... Even the professionals get hurt. I've been electrocuted a few times, nothing more than 110 but it's still not a good feeling! Both times were from fishing copper pipes through a drop ceiling, the pipes hit some bad wires or exposed wires. One time it was in a Chinese resturant where the owners did their own wiring, almost threw me off a ladder the other was in an old theater that had some nob and tube wiring that the copper pipe touched. Needless to say I don't touch electric, never had much luck with it!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

20 plus years ago in a land far, far, away I was working on a switch gear cabinet, 600 Volt 6000 amp, pulling abandoned panel feeders, gear was supposed to be off, supervisor and power company official were both there and confirmed it, You can't test voltage that high with a regular meter as it will either melt in your had or explode so you rely on them to give the all clear.
Well we started working on pulling out the wires (with a pulling machine hooked to the other end), Well within second the feeders hit the still live bus bars (turned out to be a back feed panel) and vaporized the interior of the cabinet, Cool part is, you can see though 6 layers of 1/16th inch metal and the bill of a ball cap when that happens. I got blow up against a brick wall and bounced off of it and the aforementioned steel cabinet 3 times before coming to a staggering stop.
People were standing on either side of me when it went off but they just go blown sideways and clear. upon turning to look at my left hand and arm I now see I've gotten 3rd and 4th degree burns up to my shoulder, and looked like a charcoal briquette!
Luck have it I was less than a mile for a hospital, I kept my cool had a co worker haul tail to get me there, walked in the door went to the window, said I needed to be seen for a burn, she handed me a clip board and said have a seat and fill this out.
I don't know if it was the shear shocking look I gave her, or if she finally got a whiff of brunt flesh or a good look at my arm, but as I was turning to go "sit down" I heard people yelling and the ER doors few open and off I went to get worked on.
I got hit 3 times working as a commercial electrician none were fun!

 

[OldeEnglish]

Your a lucky SOB Wolfman, that is a prime example of my fear of electricity, it is no joke in any form! Why someone would even think about screwing around with a high voltage line blows my mind.... It's not even something to joke about. Even if you had to pay a professional to remove a tree limb, it's money well spent, because it will kill you!

Same goes with messing with propane, natural gas, underground lines, and worst of all....Gas Venting for CO exhaust from burning gas. If your not qualified to do it, don't mess with it. If it doesn't explode and burn you, it could kill you when your sleeping because you can't smell it. Too many homeowners and jack of all trades think they know what their doing but because they saw it on HGTV, purchased the stuff online, and have no idea that they are putting people's lives in danger. Especially with venting gas burning equipment, it's not as simple as some think... It happens all the time, best case situation they just burn the house to the ground and no one gets hurt. When ya have to go fix it they say......Well the guy in the plumbing department at home depo said.......

 

[Lil Foot]

That was a pretty good way to get barbequed

Possible I suppose, but not likely. First, this was on the line to the house, after the transformer, so it was 220v. Second, this is Arizona, so it's dry. Nothing like the wet conditions back east, so little chance of the tree conducting anything. Usually when I drop one of these, it can go directly into the fireplace, no drying necessary.
I had an uncle who was standing at a screen door in the kitchen when lightning struck nearby, blowing him across the room. He was 6 at the time, and suffered minor burns on his hands & feet. He later became sort of a handyman to the stars in Monterrey California. He would routinely check 110v lines by sticking a screwdriver in an outlet while holding the blade, or by unscrewing a bulb & sticking his thumb in the socket. He said he could feel it, but it didn't hurt. He did this all his life, with no apparent ill effects. Said he tried 220v once, but it wasn't much fun.

 

[Lil Foot]

Scary story, Wolfman! Sounds like you're lucky to still be around!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Scary story, Wolfman! Sounds like you're lucky to still be around!

Yep it was a trip!
Yes In AZ it's not uncommon for electric to loose Neutral or ground because the earth is so dry, We had to use 10 foot ground rods to get a good ground!

 

[Daren Todd]

Same goes with messing with propane, natural gas, underground lines, and worst of all....Gas Venting for CO exhaust from burning gas. If your not qualified to do it, don't mess with it. If it doesn't explode and burn you, it could kill you when your sleeping because you can't smell it. Too many homeowners and jack of all trades think they know what their doing but because they saw it on HGTV, purchased the stuff online, and have no idea that they are putting people's lives in danger. Especially with venting gas burning equipment, it's not as simple as some think... It happens all the time, best case situation they just burn the house to the ground and no one gets hurt. When ya have to go fix it they say......Well the guy in the plumbing department at home depo said.......

Used to install fire alarms, security systems, camera's, and co detectors in condos for ski resorts. Used to get cold snaps, and storms coming through and would end up with three or four trips a weekend or the middle of the night for those co detectors. Would meet the gas man there with his magic wand (portable gas detector) and go up to a condo unit. Used to pull diapers, newpaper, trash bags and what ever else a renter or owner could get there hands, out of the fresh air vents.

Had a talk with a property manager and there maintanace crew for an apartment that I was renting because they mounted the co detector for the furnace on the ceiling after I explained how they work to them, they went through and relocated them.

 

[OldeEnglish]

Used to install fire alarms, security systems, camera's, and co detectors in condos for ski resorts. Used to get cold snaps, and storms coming through and would end up with three or four trips a weekend or the middle of the night for those co detectors. Would meet the gas man there with his magic wand (portable gas detector) and go up to a condo unit. Used to pull diapers, newpaper, trash bags and what ever else a renter or owner could get there hands, out of the fresh air vents.

Had a talk with a property manager and there maintanace crew for an apartment that I was renting because they mounted the co detector for the furnace on the ceiling after I explained how they work to them, they went through and relocated them.

CO detectors are worth their weight in gold, $50 that can save your life. Gas codes are so strict now that we can even vent a gas appliance into a masonry chimney anymore. If it's a exterior chimney it has to be a stainless insulated type of pipe, interior chimneys can be vented with single wall vent pipe if the air is conditioned to the roof line. This is due to exterior tempatures not letting the fumes rise properly.

 

[bcbull378]

I'm a strong believer that anything dealing with electricity should be left up to the professionals, too many accidents happen where people get killed. A guy I've known all my life got killed weed wacking around some high tension lines that run through property owned by a large limestone quarry in my town. They were using saw blades on weed wackers, he accidently hit a guide wire, cut through it, the wire snapped back and touched the power lines which energized the guide wire. The guide wire snapped back at him, hit him, and killed him. A few of my friends were working with him and couldn't revive him because the electricity literally cooked him internally. Not a pleasant way to go....

Now all of the guide wires are protected with schedule 80 pipe so it could never happen again. That still haunts my friends that were beside him and he left his child fatherless and his wife without a husband. Power lines are never something to fool around with or joke about, even 100 amps will kill you.

Takes 1/5th of an AMP to stop the human heart , secondary amps and primary amps are to diffrent things neither to be messed with.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

Not even close to true! I'll send you pic's of many a tree that are 50+ years old that get topped by the power company all the time and they are still going strong!

Ask ANY tree professional whos a memeber if the ISA, International Society of Arbour culture and see what they have to say about topping trees.

It leaves the limbs open to disease, kinda like getting a cut and not putting a bandaide on it.

http://www.treesaregood.org/treeowner/pruningyourtrees.aspx

 

[Eric McCarthy]

Eric, I think this statement is not ...... "Never have a tree topped and left. It'll kill the tree over time and it'll come falling down."

I guess it's a good thing to tell your potential customers to get more work!

Explain to me why I should lie to my customers and tell them to do something, when I know damn good and well its the wrong thing to do?

Ohh thats right, Im supposed to be dishonest to earn more money. Stupid me, I should have known honesty wont get me anywhere.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Ask ANY tree professional whos a memeber if the ISA, International Society of Arbour culture and see what they have to say about topping trees.

It leaves the limbs open to disease, kinda like getting a cut and not putting a bandaide on it.

http://www.treesaregood.org/treeowner/pruningyourtrees.aspx

Explain to me why I should lie to my customers and tell them to do something, when I know damn good and well its the wrong thing to do?

Ohh thats right, Im supposed to be dishonest to earn more money. Stupid me, I should have known honesty wont get me anywhere.

Eric,
Before you just lash out at everyone learn to read what you post!
What makes you look stupid is when your not properly informed!
Arborists all over the world top trees all the time and it's an expectable practice!

 

[Daren Todd]

They do it for fruit trees all the time. Catch it while it's dormant, trim it back. Encourages new growth, make the tree bushier increasing yeilds. As well as making it easier to get all the fruit with out needing a boom truck or thirty foot extension ladder.


Wolfman, nice illustrations !!!!!

 

[olthumpa]

Wolfman, nice illustrations !!!!!

It is truly amazing what he can do with those paws.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

It is truly amazing what he can do with those paws.

The extra hair keeps me warm too!

 

[olthumpa]

The extra hair keeps me warm too!

fotflmao! tears coming down my face.

Thanks, I really needed that today!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Good day for a selfie!

I wear gloves most of the time on my paws... Hydraulic fluid is a bugger to get out of my fur!